My my my. . . Where has the time gone? I have not posted since the middle of December, but I have been anything but lazy. On January 12th I began my official training for Ironman 70. 3 Raleigh. I am following the level 4 Matt Fitzgerald plan, from a book that I purchased on Amazon. Originally I was going to purchase the plan from TrainingPeaks.com but the price tag was a little steep at $75.00 Just after Christmas I simply can't afford something like that. I did a search online and found a blog written by a girl who mentioned that she purchased the book on Amazon. My first thought was that I didn't know he even had a book! I checked to make sure that the book was what I needed and ordered it. Within a few days it arrived and it was perfect! What is great about the plan is that it gives me a road map to success. If I find that it is too difficult, I can easily bump my plan down. If I find that I need more of a challenge, I am able to bump it up.

The first thing I have to get used to is working out 6 days a week with three of those days being double workouts. Here is a brief description of my weekly workouts:

So, as you can see I have been busy. I am learning how to plan WAY ahead using a couple things. First, I am preplanning all of my meals each week. This isn't too different before but the only things new here is that I am cooking up a storm on Sunday so that I don't have to spend the time during the week. This also makes it so that I don't end up going out to pick up something to eat (as if I have the time to go out!) Also, I discovered a drink called SHAKEOLOGY by the company called BeachBody. They are the name behind fitness programs like P90X. I have several of their programs, but thanks to my friend Lindsay, I have rediscovered how wonderful BeachBody is.

Shakeology is more than just a protein shake. It is filled with all sorts of nutrients that help to fuel my second workout of the day since I drink it for breakfast. It has things it in that help to heal my body from the punishing workouts that I am completing every day. So far in my training I have yet to be sore! It’s unbelievable! Shakeology keeps me full and feeling great! If you want to know more about it, click here and check it out. I am happy to answer any questions you have, so leave questions in the comment section below!

I am looking forward to keeping up the momentum in my training. It has helped to have supportive friends who are encouraging me to push myself to the limits every day. It also helps to know that there are some people out there who want to see me fail. I won’t name names, but you’re out there and all I can say is, “Thank you for helping to fuel my fire!” I can’t spend much time thinking about it, but when I do, it helps to push me through the hard workouts.

As for now, it’s back to the floor to do more stretching and more preventative icing. I will update as often as I can. Thank you for supporting me through this journey and I look forward to posting a picture of my finisher medal on May 31st!